Listen to narration by a local historian

Monroe County Court House

Michelle Finn

Deputy Historian, City of Rochester

What we now know as the Monroe County Office Building was originally the Monroe County Court House. Built on the southeast corner of Main and Fitzhugh between 1894 and 1896, this was the third courthouse to occupy that location.

The first courthouse was constructed in 1822, a year after Monroe County was founded. It cost $7,000 to build and contained a belfry, A cupola, two pillared porticoes and a large bell, which was used as a fire alarm.

The site for the courthouse was donated by Nathaniel Rochester, Charles Carroll and William Fitzhugh. Between 1823 and 1846, the county shared the building with the village and, later, city of Rochester.

As the city and county grew, so did their need for space. A second courthouse replaced the first in 1851. It cost more than $70,000 to build and was twice the size of its predecessor. Impressive three-story columns framed its entrance and an unblindfolded statue of Justice topped its dome.

By the 1870s, the city and county had once again outgrown their shared quarters. The county bought the city’s half of the building, and municipal offices relocated to new digs behind the courthouse, which we now refer to as the old City Hall. The tower of that building can be seen in the far right of the photograph.

Despite their expansion, county offices were still cramped. The law library had amassed an impressive and valuable collection and the need to house and protect it prompted the construction of yet another, still larger, building.

The cornerstone of the third courthouse was laid in conjunction with the Independence Day celebration in 1894. It displays the dates of all three courthouses built on that site. A marker above the cornerstone honors the county’s namesake, James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States.

Erected at a cost of more than $800,000, this building was designed in the Italian Renaissance style by Rochester architect J. Foster Warner, son of A.J. Warner, who designed the second courthouse and first City Hall.

Made of granite and marble, this magnificent edifice features a four-story atrium with a skylight, ornate columns and shiny brass and intricate wrought-iron railings. Justice, retained from the second courthouse, stands outside a fourth-floor window overlooking the main entrance.

In 1964, the Monroe County courts moved to the newly constructed Hall of Justice, and the courthouse became the County Office Building.

Now over 100 years old, the building is on the National Register of Historical Places.